24 November 2024
You may have noticed that the price of eggs went up … or is going up again. The rise is directly related to dead birds.
It’s been only three years since the highly contagious avian influenza H5N1 arrived in North America on the wings of migratory waterfowl in autumn 2021. Though not dangerous to humans it easily kills poultry and ripples through waterfowl and raptor communities.
Among wild birds mallards are particularly susceptible and lead the infection rate in many places.
When waterfowl are sick, peregrines die after eating them. Avian flu kills so quickly that in some cases dead peregrines have been found at the nest. The peregrine population at both coasts has declined in the past two years: Audubon Magazine: Why Are Peregrine Falcon Numbers Falling in the United States Again?
But by far the greatest effect is on domesticated poultry. As of 20 November nearly 110 million farm birds have died because H5N1 is so contagious in crowded conditions.
In the past six weeks alone, avian flu has hit five large egg farms in Washington, Oregon, California, and Utah. More than 6 million hens have been culled because of exposure to H5N1 and certain death.
Fewer hens means fewer eggs. So the price of eggs goes up.
Listen for news of large avian flu outbreaks and you’ll be able to predict the rising price of eggs.
p.s. Eggs are produced in massive crowded farms because it takes 382,000,000 hens to meet the U.S. demand for 110 billion eggs per year. As of March 2024, 60% of U.S. egg farms raise hens in cages.
Producing billions of eggs a year is an inherently messy business. Just 200 or so farmers control almost all of the nearly 300 million egg-laying hens in the United States.
— New York Times, 2016: Eggs That Clear the Cages, but Maybe Not the Conscience